Currently cleaning my car using a garden hose to wet, then snow foam to cover and after a sponge, then finally rinsing with the hose again.

I've been thinking about getting a pressure washer, that I can use to clean off after the snow foam and adding in a decent car shampoo stage too. before anyone says it, I know to clean off from a distance and be careful on the pressure settings too.

Any advice on pressure washers? Seen some decent reviews on the Bosch ones, Have used many K'A'RCHER before and whilst mechanically they are great often found they had flimsy designs with plastic external parts often breaking.

First - DON"T USE A SPONGE. Scratch the hell out of cars. Get a lambswool or noodle mit/cloth. Sponges take the dirt off the surface of the car but because of their construction stay on the surface of the sponge and you are at risk of it becoming like sandpaper pad adding small scratches to the surface. The woolly mitts allow the particles to go in between the fibres thus avoiding the issue. Best used with the two bucket method (one for shampoo and one with clean water to rinse off the dirty mitt before putting in shampoo bucket again). Sorry if preaching.

I use the Karcher K4 which has appeared to be pretty good for the last year and allows you to moderate the power (i use medium). As best you can, you are also encouraged to use it at 45 degrees (and as you say from a reasonable distance) to stop you blasting dirt directly into the paint.

I've had the same Karcher washer for around 15 years now and its still going strong, only once had any issues on paint work when I didn't notice a scratch under the dirt and the washer not only cleaned off the direct but lifted the paint along the scratch for about 1cm either side, it was on a two year old Citroen on the plastic trim along the door! I learned that lesson very quickly!

The good thing about Karcher is that parts are easy to get hold of plus lots of useful attachments for other tasks, particularly like the sand blaster (great for old cast iron garden furniture!) - would not like to see what that would do to the paintwork!

AWD Portfolio, Italian Racing Red , a car with more "bounce" than most inflatable castles!

Was a brand new sponge, went into halfords and was not very impressed with their offerings so decided to buy cheaply as I'll still buy a much nicer set of cleaning things. But yes I can completely understand the dirt will eventually build up in the porous sponge and scratch paint / coatings.

I use a Karcher K2 .. it does many jobs around the home. Great little device. As others have said be careful. Test it on the back of your hand to get comfortable with distance and angle. When it starts to hurt then stop and remember not to go closer than that on the car!

. . . got one last year, thought it might be rubbish 'cos it was cheap as chips (only £49!), but it does the job very well . . and great to use 'cos it's small and not too powerful to do any serious damage . . I can definitely recommend . . at that price it wouldn't hurt if you had to buy one every year

The Karcher K4 Full Control is great as you can select the power level with ease and also spray on the detergent directly from the unit.
I got mine from B&Q last week and it came with the car cleaning brush and patio cleaner.
Also used it to clean my Velux windows and garden furniture so all round a great product for the home and car.

I have a Nilfisk C110. Most people would say Nilfisk quality is better than Karcher (Nilfisk pumps are all metal, lower end Karcher are plastic), and Nilfisk usually slightly cheaper on a like for like model comparison.

Much more robust than the consumer versions, all brass connections, and jesus wept, is it powerful, with 190 bar maximum pressure. You can get a decent snow foam lance for it off fleabay, and it cleans off a dusty car beautifully. I actually bought it for the patio though which I can now do in half the time versus my previous K5.